The Secret of Trimurti and its Application in Daily Life

“Can you explain the science behind the Hindu concept of Trimurti (“three forms” of God)?” asked a reader Pavithra Nambiar.

Before answering this question, let’s bust the popular misconception of Trimurti – triad of gods consisting of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. I asked her to explain about Trimurti.

“Trinity is manifestation of the supreme God (Brahmam) in three forms – consisting of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer – and is the oldest concept in Hinduism,” she said. In fact, this is being taught all over the world.

“This is totally baseless,” I replied, “Vedic literature does not mention about such trinity. Such a concept of triple deity is not present in Vedic literature, the foundation of Sanatan Dharma. Trimurti concept comes into existence recently along with later Puranas. There are very few places in Indian literature where the Trimurti is mentioned.”

– There is only one Purana, to best of my knowledge that says Brahmam is worshipped as Trimurti and they are identified as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It is Kūrma Purāṇa.

– Among these three, only Vishnu is mentioned in Vedas – that too as a minor deity. Vedas predominantly worship nature in its most sublime aspects. Shiva is not mentioned in Vedas. There is another minor god – Rudra. And only a few hymns are assigned to him. Rudra was later considered as Shiva. Brahmanaspati is the lord of hymns. Later, puranic Hinduism gave the name of Brahma.

“Uday, do you know, even the word ‘GOD’ stands for Generator, Operator and Destroyer. It comes from Hindu concept of trimurti – Brahma the Generator, Vishnu the Operator, and Shiva the Destroyer,” a friend, who is a retired professor, told me once.

“Sir, it cannot even qualify to be called a bed time story. It is just an idiotic concept. Brahma is not creator. He is our ancestor. The cosmos was in place before he was born. And Shiva is not destroyer – what did he destroy? Even the number of Asuras (demons) killed by him is much less than that by Vishnu. The conservation of energy is an absolute law – Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transforms from one. So, this concept is totally baseless in terms of literature as well as science.”

My college mate, a hardcore Hindu, Sanal, once told me: “Trimurti represents the three basic, fundamental forces in this universe. It is pure science.”

We both studied physics. “Then there should be four Murtis. There are four fundamental interactions or forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction.” I said.

“Udayji, do you worship trimurti?” George, a friend of mine and a Christian by faith asked me.

“Yes, I do. The first thing I do when I get up from the bed is to pay my homage to Brahma, then Vishnu and Shiv among other deities…”

“What a conflict. You are telling they do not exist. You still worship them! Your Vedic literature doesn’t sanction that…”

“We don’t have Ram, Krishna and Hanuman in Vedas but still we pray to them. They are historical characters. What I said was, there is no Trimurti as pictured by the artists in this universe.”

“Then what’s the real concept of Trimurti?”

“Our learnt ancestors – among them were scientists and sages – taught us that the concept of Trimurti to develop a healthy, happy and long life.”

“I don’t understand.” he said.

“Use your brain…”I said, “Brain is the seat of creativity.”

“Yes, it is – but how is it related to Trimurti?” he asked.

“Our ancestors have gone much beyond the modern knowledge on brain aka mind and they found that it has four parts – 1. manas (the mind), 2. chitta (the memory), 3. buddhi (the intellect) and 4. ahańkāra (the ego). To make it simple, they pictured these four parts into four separate heads. Hence they represented of creativity with four heads. Brahma is pictured to have four heads…”

“Oh. Okay”

“For any creative work, you need wisdom and learning, so they have added Saraswati – the goddess of learning to partner with Brahma.”

“But his vehicle (vahana) is hansa (swan). Isn’t that funny?”

“The brain needs to have the power of discrimination – according to sages, a swan is said to possess a unique discriminating faculty, which enables it to distinguish pure milk from a mixture of milk and water.”

“He is sitting in a lotus flower that’s connected to Vishnu’s navel button, what a funny picture?”

“George, is it really possible to stand or sit in a lotus flower? Try to put a small stone on a lotus flower, it may sink. So, how can one person sit in a lotus flower? It’s impossible. It’s just to show that he sits so balanced in a delicate world that represents the dual nature of creation, that is purity and impurity, happiness and unhappiness, vice and virtue, knowledge and ignorance, and so on. And the lotus is grows out of Vishnu’s (Vishnu represents cosmos) navel shows the umbilical chord connection of the creation to the cosmos.”

(There is no creator, but creation and created exist – Please check “Is there a creator?)

“Oh, I didn’t know those things…”

“Brahma represents the dawn, Vishnu the day and Shiva the Sandhya (evening),” I said.

Our ancestors maintained that we should adjust our biological clock with solar clock. The human system is best suited according to Sun’s energy – direct and indirect. They have estimated the life expectancy of a human being as 125 years! To live a healthy and fruitful life in accordance with the nature they have created a concept of Trimurti.

The quality of time, the best state of brain etc in the early morning. The time then is called Brahma muhurta Saraswati yamam. It’s the best time to learn something – that’s why almost all intellectual and mind related activities (like meditation, surya namaskar, yoga, mantra, havan etc) are designed for the early morning time.

Astanga Hridayam, the reputed Ayurvedic text, says: “Brahmi muhurte uttishtet swastho rakshaarthamayushah|” – A person who is interested in preserving the health and longevity should get up early in the morning in Brahma-muhurta. A human being would be more creative during that time – (of course, I know, you will show some exceptions for the sake of arguing).

“What about Vishnu then?”

“You know that Vishnu’s abode is Vaikunta in Ksheera Sagara (Milky Ocean). Incidentally the name of our galaxy is the same He is lying in a serpent named Ananta-Sesha. The latest astronomical discovery says Galaxy contains about 100,000 suns’ worth of material, and looks more like a cosmic snake. Ananta means Infinity. Sesha means “that which remains”. Even if this world is destroyed, Shesha remains as he is. It is just a representation of existence of galaxy. Vishnu is blue in colour. Sky like blue. The blue colour represents the depth. He is described as being blue in colour, meaning that he is all pervasive and omnipresent. The colour represents infinity too.”

“Salutation to our sages, who were also astronomers…” he said.

“Vishnu represents Dharma. In its feet, there is Artha (wealth), represented by his wife, Lakshmi. So to say, ‘make money through Dharmic way’. Do I have to explain more?”

“No – I understand – we have to make money in a righteous way – if you follow Dharma, wealth will come under your feet,” George said, “What about Shiva?”

– The latest studies say that the universe can endlessly expand and contract in a cosmological cyclic model. Atharva Veda calls the process ‘pracharana’ (expand) and ‘sangkochana’ (contract). When universe expands creation (of stars, galaxies and content inside) happens. When it contracts, trillions of celestial bodies are destructed. This cyclical, rhythmical process can happen simultaneously in infinite number of parallel dimensions too.

– The creation (expansion) or destruction (contraction), process is just the energy changing its form. You know energy can be neither created nor be destroyed, but it transforms from one form to another.

– This is a rhythmic continuous process of the cosmic energy appears like a dance (This is my humble understanding). Our ancestors termed it as “tandava” (cosmic dance). ‘Rudra Tandava’ or the dance of destruction. ‘Aananda Tandavam’ or dance of bliss is associated with the creation of the world, after its total destruction. (See Is Shiva for real?)

“Oh, Shiv is such a beautiful concept…”he said.

“When you come back to Trimurti concet – Shiva is the day-end. Then Tamas, darkness or night begins – only to transform towards the next dawn…It’s a cyclical process. Shiva is represented as ArdhaNareeswara – when a man and woman join together as one. To simplify it, we worship Shiva in the form of Linga (phallus). The circular horizontal base of it is called a yoni. It is a union of a Linga and a Yoni (of Mother Parvati) showing that this is the source of all creation. It also represents Kama. The end of the day or destroyer of the day also means Moksha.”

“I don’t understand…”

“The whole life is represented as a single day here – through which the cycle of Purushartha (four aims of life – Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha) is complete. A full day is actually your full life – be creative and educate yourself (Brahma), make money through dharmic way (Vishnu), use that money to fulfill your desires (kama) and move towards moksha(Shiva) – in the end you go to a sleep – eternal sleep. Is it clear now?”

“Yes, Uday, it is very clear.”

“The life-span of a human is divided into four – student (Brahmacharya), householder (Grihastha), retired (Vanaprastha) and renunciation (Sannyasa). The first part is being with Brahma – education and skill learning. Then live a fulfilling life – as a family man and retired – based on Dharma fulfilling Kama. After that, move towards renunciation. That’s what Trimurti concept reminds us every moment…”

“Right”

“Now tell me, shouldn’t we worship Trimurti every day? Aren’t they reminder to every human being?” I asked.

Our ancestors were very liberal and offer you to live the way you want, pray the way you want and our restrictions are mostly based on rules of humanity.

Our ancestors saw that there is a consciousness from which the entire cosmos is sprung into existence and then expanded exponentially. What can expand? Mass, which is another form of the energy. An expansion of mass using energy can look like an explosion too, right? It is a bang! When it happens in a universal scale, we call it big bang. So consciousness expands into universe the way spider spin its web. That’s how Vedic scriptures explain about the Big Bang theory.
In Sanskrit language, the Consciousness was given a name – “Purusha” (literal meaning is male). That which created (mass/energy or nature) is Prakriti (female). The female creative energy is also known as Shakti (the force).
There is an interesting conversation in Shiv Purana. Sage Bhrigu askes Shiv: “Who is your father?” Shiv says: “Brahma”. Who is his father? Brahma manifested from Vishnu’s navel. Hence Vishnu is his father. Who is the father of Vishnu then? Shiva replied, “I am”.
The Purusha is always manifests as Vishnu->Brahma->Shiva and this cycle repeats. There is no end point, no one, thus can be called “Supreme, the father of all”. Prakriti also manifests herself into Shakti (Parvati), Lakshmi and Saraswati, the energy of the three Purushas. This is how our ancients explained. I don’t know if anything more can be added from quantum theory.

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